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Monday, November 26, 2012

Episode 138 (11-26-12): Snow Geese

Please see below (after the transcript and show notes) for links to news and upcoming events.

TRANSCRIPT

From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is
Virginia Water Radio for the week of November 26, 2012.

This week we feature
another mystery sound. Have
listen for about 15 seconds, and see if you can guess what’s making this riot
of sound. And here’s a hint: Snow or no, the Chesapeake Bay area
entertains these feathered visitors every winter.

SOUND.

If you guessed Snow
Geese, you’re right! After breeding in the Arctic in summer, Snow Geese return
to the Chesapeake Bay region for late fall and winter. Gathering to feed on plants around water bodies
and in wetlands and agricultural fields, Snow Geese flocks can number in the
thousands. The species has two color
forms: a white morph that’s common in the Bay region, and a blue morph that’s
more common west of the Mississippi River.
From 1916 to 1975, Snow Goose hunting in the eastern United States was
banned due to low population levels of the birds, but in recent decades
populations have increased greatly. And
these big gangs of geese are a sight to behold: According to one description,
from Cornell University, seeing “huge flocks of Snow Geese swirl down from the
sky...is a little like standing in a snow globe.” Thanks to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
for making this week’s sound available for public use.

For other water sounds and music, and for more Virginia
water information, visit our Web site at virginiawaterradio.org,
or call us at (540) 231-5463. From the
Virginia Water Resources Research Center in Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo,
thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.

SHOW NOTES

Snow Geese in
flight. Photo made available for public
use the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Digital Library, online at http://digitalmedia.fws.gov, accessed 11-26-12.

Acknowledgments:

The quote in the
script is from the Snow Goose introduction on the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology’s “Bird
Guide” Web site at http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/search. The Snow Geese sound was taken from the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s “Sound Clips” Web site (public domain sounds)
at http://www.fws.gov/video/sound.htm, accessed 11/26/12.This
week’s script was based in part on work done by Minni
Gupta, a 2011 Virginia Tech graduate who did an internship with the Virginia
Water Resources Research Center in the fall 2010 semester. Ms. Gupta wrote Virginia Water Episode 38
(week of 10-18-10), which also includes Snow Geese sounds and information.

Sources: Information
on Snow Geese (Chen caerulescens) was
taken from Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries’ “Fish and Wildlife
Information Service” Web page at http://vafwis.org/fwis/?Title=VaFWIS+Species+Information+By+Name&vUT=Visitor;
the Cornell University Lab of
Ornithology’s “Bird Guide” Web site at http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/search; Life
in the Chesapeake Bay, by Alice Jane Lippson and Robert L. Lippson
(Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006); and A Guide to Field Identification of Birds of
North America, by Chandler S. Robbins et
al. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2001).

*E-bird Web site
at http://ebird.org/content/ebird/, maintained by the Cornell Lab and
the Audubon Society. Here you can find
locations of species observations made by contributors, and you can sign up to
contribute your own observations.

For
events related to Virginia's water resources, please visit the Quick Guide to Virginia Water–related
Conferences, Workshops, and Other Events, online athttp://virginiawaterevents.wordpress.com/.The site includes a list of Virginia
government policy and regulatory meetings occurring in the coming week.

Welcome to Virginia Water Radio

This site includes audio files featuring sounds and music that relate to Virginia’s waters, from the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean. Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, which is solely responsible for the show's content. Thanks to George Wills of Blacksburg, Va., for designing the Virginia Water Radio logo.